Plans under way to develop trails

Plans are in the works to develop recreational trails along the stretch of the Chemung River that flows through Steuben County.

Derrick Ek

Plans are in the works to develop recreational trails along the stretch of the Chemung River that flows through Steuben County.

And beyond that, some are envisioning a system of trails that would follow the river from Corning all the way to Elmira.

Jennifer Fais, of Corning, is spearheading efforts to form a group called the Steuben River Council.

Fais is the principal planner for the Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Economic Development Board.

She's also involved with the Chemung Basin River Trail Partnership, a coalition which has coordinated the construction of a series of access sites along the Chemung, Tioga, Canisteo and Conhocton rivers over the past few years, among other projects.

This is different than the partnership's “water trail,” though.

Fais plans to ask the City of Corning to apply for a state grant called the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.

She says the City Council will review - and hopefully approve - the grant application in early December.

The grant would fund the creation of the Steuben River Council, which would be expanded to include the city, the Town of Corning and the villages of Painted Post and Riverside.

Each municipality would appoint two representatives, and the council likely would also include representatives from environmental agencies and sportsmen's groups, as well as community members.

The primary focus of the Steuben River Council would be to develop trails - possibly with a crushed gravel surface - for hiking, bicycling, cross country skiing and other activities.

Although it's early in the process, the trails might also include kiosks with maps and information about wildlife and local history. Ideally, the trails would connect with existing boat launches, Fais said.

The grant would help fund the entire process, Fais said.

The first step would be to gather any existing plans for trails. Next, a series of public hearings would be held to gather ideas from residents.

“There are lots of individual visions,” Fais said, “and the idea is to pull it all together and then we can see where all the gaps are and see what we have to do next.”

A few specific projects would be prioritized, and the River Council would then hire consultants to come up with designs. Those designs would then be presented to municipal officials, to see which ideas they would support.

After that, the grant could also be used to help fund construction of the projects. The catch, however, is that the grant requires matching funding from the municipalities involved, or from the community.

Fais thinks the trails would be used frequently, and not just by locals.

“With the Corning area the tourist destination that it is, people expect to hike, bike and paddle out their hotel door,” Fais said.

Pat White, communications manager for the Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau, a Corning-based tourism agency, agreed that it would be a drawing card.

“You see cities and towns around the country developing their waterfronts. Water is a big attraction,” White said. “You may have noticed, every year on our travel guide, there's a picture of the lake, because people are just drawn to water. They seem to connect water with vacation.

“The hiking and biking is really popular too,” White added. “And I think as people become more interested in being healthy, they're interested in being outside and doing those kind of things. Of course, it would be great for locals, too. Everybody would enjoy it.”

Fais wants to tie the River Council's plans to a project already under way in Corning.

Jim Goodling, the city's director of planning and economic development, has been working for the past seven years on plans for a jogging and biking loop around the city.

It would be a continuation of the existing path that begins at Craig Park in Painted Post and goes through Riverside.

Tentative plans call for the path to extend through the city's Northside and run along the river in downtown Corning. It would cross the Centerway pedestrian bridge and continue on the Southside, passing by Denison Park.

Part of the trail - along the dike between the Bridge Street and Centerway bridges - will be built next summer, coinciding with a renovation of the Centerway span.

The ultimate goal, Goodling said, is to have the trail follow the river all the way down to Big Flats.

The creation of the Steuben River Council would certainly bolster those efforts, he said.

“Right now, all I can address is what's within the city. But with a River Council, we would have the opportunity to work more closely with other municipalities and work toward making that happen at some point in the future,” Goodling said.

A very similar process has been unfolding recently in Elmira.

A group called the Chemung River Council has been planning trails and other projects in Big Flats, downtown Elmira and other places along the river in Chemung County.

They have cost estimates from an engineering firm in hand, and are in the process of presenting them to municipal officials, said Lee Younge, chairwoman of the Chemung River Council.

They are tentatively scheduled to present their master plan to the public in early January, Younge said.

At some point, the Chemung and Steuben river councils would probably merge, she said.

Some are imagining a trail network that would follow the river from Corning to Elmira.

Tom O'Brien, a retired Corning Inc. attorney, has been working on ways to make that a reality. He's been hiking along the river and studying old maps, looking for a long-forgotten railroad line.

A Corning-to-Elmira trail might be similar to the Catharine Valley Trail currently being built between Horseheads and Watkins Glen; or a path that runs along Pine Creek in Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon, which is one of O'Brien's favorite spots.

“That's part of my inspiration. It's absolutely spectacular, one of the nicest places around here,” O'Brien said. “And I've also gone out to Colorado many times, and you soon discover that wherever they have a river, they have a nifty trail along the side of it, for bicycling or hiking or rollerblading. We've started doing that for vacations.”

As anyone who has ever canoed or kayaked the Chemung River can attest, it offers nice scenery, lots of birds and wildlife, and plenty of solitude as it flows alongside wooded cliffs and farmland.

But the river can't be used in the winter, of course. For much of the summer, there's barely enough water to navigate the river. And not everyone owns a canoe or kayak.

In most places, it's impossible to hike along the riverbanks, because they're so overgrown.

The thought is that a trail would provide year-round accessibility for nature lovers and those who like to exercise outdoors.

O'Brien has been researching a grant program from a group called Parks and Trails New York, which assists in the development of multi-use trails. The Chemung Basin River Trail Partnership, of which he is a member, would apply for the grant.

A trail along the Chemung River would obviously be a monumental project, one that would require a lot of funding sources, a lot of involved parties, and a committed effort over many years.

“Of course, this is a long-term project,” he said. “To build it along the river, you'd need easements and rights-of-way. People would have to want to make it happen, and it would take a long time. But you've got to get started.”